Motorola Mobility, a Google company, is building a 3D printed modular phone, and has partnered with 3D Systems for commercial fulfillment. More »
The Captured Dimensions pop-up studio was located in the Smithsonian Castle and featured approximately 80 digital cameras all connected to 3D software. More »
Microsoft expanded their support for 3D printing by launching a Windows 8 app called 3D Builder. It includes a library of objects you can edit and 3D print. More »
3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) announced the availability of the Sense 3D scanner, the first 3D scanner designed for the consumer and optimized for 3D printing. More »
With rumors circling that 3D Systems will be purchased by IBM, the stock soars. We look at why IBM might be interested in the 3D printing giant. More »
Shapeways Friday Finds: Anvil Cufflinks, Ceramic Ducks
3D printing marketplace Shapeways featured elegant and innovative designs in its weekly Friday Finds blog series.
Pictured above is a set of anvil cufflinks, available in stainless steel for $60. They don’t weigh enough to give you the arms of a blacksmith though.
And pictured below is a ceramic 3D print of momma and baby ducks.
Via Shapeways blog.
Read more coverage about Shapeways.
Top 3D Printing Headlines Last Week: Dinosaurs, Action Figures, Organs, Olympics
A roundup of the top news On 3D Printing brought you from July 2 to July 8.
Monday, July 2
- Video: 3D Printing for Dummies; A Very Basic Introduction
- Top 10 Countdown: Most Popular 3D Printing Stories in June 2012
Tuesday, July 3
Wednesday, July 4
Thursday, July 5
- How Leading Scientists Across Fields are Embracing 3D Printing
- Always Wanted Your Own Action Figure? 3D Print Your Face [Video]
Friday, July 6
Come to London for the Olympics, Stay for the 3D Print Show
The Internet changed the world in the 1990s. The world is about to change again.
That’s the tag line for the next big event in London after the 2012 Olympics: the 3D Print Show in October. Stay tuned for more coverage from us leading up to the show.
Below is an excerpt from a preview of the 3D Print Show by the UK publication The Telegraph.
Kerry Hogarth, the organiser of the show, said the show would introduce people to the entire process involved in 3D printing: scanning real world objects to make replicas, designing new objects using computer software and then printing the results.
“The people who will come to the show are probably early adopters,” she said. “Over the last three to six months a lot of people have been enquiring about what to do.”
Among the companies exhibiting at the show will be EuroPac 3D, a scanning company whose work includes scanning the Harry Potter set for use in computer-generated imagery and scanning decaying sculptures on the roof of Blenheim Palace so that they can be accurately preserved.
John Beckett, EuroPac’s managing director, said: “We’ll have scanners there that will be able to scan, say, jewellery. We’ll have a complete body scanner which will be able to make a complete scan in about five seconds.”
Although printers capable of producing large objects are still outside the price range of most people, Ms Hogarth predicts that prices will fall over the next couple of years.
Via The Telegraph.
London Olympics photo by UK in Italy used under Creative Commons license.
Scientists Create Blood Vessels Using Sugar and 3D Printing
University researchers have discovered a way to 3D print blood vessels, using sugar as the “ink” and a RepRap 3D printer. UPenn and MIT researchers collaborated on the study.
The research was conducted by a team led by postdoctoral fellow Jordan S. Miller and Christopher S. Chen, the Skirkanich Professor of Innovation in the Department of Bioengineering at Penn, along with Sangeeta N. Bhatia, Wilson Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and postdoctoral fellow Kelly R. Stevens in Bhatia’s laboratory.
The researchers published their findings in Nature and summarized their results in a UPenn statement.
Rather than trying to print a large volume of tissue and leave hollow channels for vasculature in a layer-by-layer approach, Chen and colleagues focused on the vasculature first and designed free-standing 3D filament networks in the shape of a vascular system that sat inside a mold. As in lost-wax casting, a technique that has been used to make sculptures for thousands of years, the team’s approach allowed for the mold and vascular template to be removed once the cells were added and formed a solid tissue enveloping the filaments.
The formula they settled on — a combination of sucrose and glucose along with dextran for structural reinforcement — is printed with a RepRap, an open-source 3D printer with a custom-designed extruder and controlling software. An important step in stabilizing the sugar after printing, templates are coated in a thin layer of a degradable polymer derived from corn. This coating allows the sugar template to be dissolved and to flow out of the gel through the channels they create without inhibiting the solidification of the gel or damaging the growing cells nearby. Once the sugar is removed, the researchers start flowing fluid through the vascular architecture and cells begin to receive nutrients and oxygen similar to the exchange that naturally happens in the body.
Below is a video showing their amazing discovery.
Read more from the UPenn summary.
Blood vessel photo by shoebappa used under Creative Commons license.
Fab Lab of the Week: 3D Printing Providence Interest Group
This week’s featured Fab Lab is 3DPPVD, or 3D Printing Providence. Although 3DPPVD is more of a meetup than a Fab Lab, it is spreading the interest and adoption of 3D printing.
We are pleased to announce the first meeting of 3DPPVD, a monthly meetup for MakerBot, RepRap, other 3D printer operators and anyone who’s interested in digital fabrication. Even if you are not an owner of a 3D printer this will be a great opportunity to learn about the emerging field of desktop rapid prototyping. If you do have a printer feel free to bring it down and show off your mods and prints.
Our first meeting will be on Wednesday July 11th at AS220 Labs (AS220 Mercantile Block, 131 Washington St (Entrance on Lucie Way), Providence, Ri) from 7pm until they kick us out. Since this is the inaugural event, there won’t be a theme so we have time to get to know each other and find out what kind of topics we would like to discuss at future events. This event is free and open to the public so please bring your friends and family.
Via MAKE.
3D printer photo by makerbot used under Creative Commons license.
